
Heir to an illegal gambling business owned by his murdered father, Valerio spends his days working for his uncle Linduarte, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy while dreaming of getting out and going straight with his wife Regina. But when the opportunity presents itself, Valerio and Regina’s desperate stab at a new life leaves them embroiled in a downward spiral of treachery and corruption. Blinded by greed and beset by paranoia, the couple is swept into the violent undertow of Rio de Janeiro’s criminal underworld, leaving behind a bloody wake of bodies and betrayal.
One of Brazil’s most-anticipated films of the year, Fernando Coimbra’s successor to 2013’s A Wolf at the Door is a blood-soaked crime thriller that marries the darker shades of the Coen Brothers’ irony to the melodramatic flourishes of Shakespeare, finding inspiration in the murderous scheming of Macbeth, the obsession and revenge of Hamlet, and the violent excess of Titus Andronicus. Carnival is Over is a withering social critique wrapped in a bleakly comic tragedy where no one is left unscathed.
Leandra Leal, Irandhir Santos, Thiago Thomé, Pêpê Rapazote, Ernani Moraes, Augusto Madeira
Brazil/Portugal
2024
In Portuguese with English subtitles
At Vancouver Playhouse
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Rui Pires, Daniela Antonelli Aun, Gabriela Tocchio, Ana Saito, Pablo Torrecillas, João Fonseca, Fernando Fraiha, Rodrigo Castellar, José Alvarenga Júnior, Leandra Leal, Marcio Fraccaroli, Veronica Stumpf
Producer
Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane, André Novis, Fernando Coimbra, Luís Galvão Teles, Gonçalo Galvão Teles
Screenwriter
Fernando Coimbra
Cinematography
Júnior Malta
Editor
Karen Harley
Production Design
Caio Costa, Rafael Torah
Original Music
Thiago França

Fernando Coimbra
Fernando Coimbra is a screenwriter and director who was born in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. He graduated in Film and Video from the University of São Paulo in 1999. His debut feature, A Wolf at the Door (2013), won Best Film at San Sebastián in the Latinos Horizontes section. Coimbra also directed episodes of Narcos and Netflix’s Sand Castle (2017). His latest film, Carnival is Over, was developed at the 2015 Sundance Screenwriter Lab and received the institute’s Global Filmmaking Award.
Filmography: A Wolf at the Door (2013); Sand Castle (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.